Episodes described by people

[LMFAOschwarz]

Neat site! I figured if I was going to lurk around on occasion, I might as well join!

One thing that's been fun over the years is hearing a friend, co-worker or whomever describe a Star Trek episode they've seen. Often not being fans themselves, it's interesting to hear what elements they pick up on when describing the stories. Almost without fail, they mention a key element which identifies the episode.

Back when The Next Generation was first on the air, one fellow I know mentioned that he had seen a few minutes of an episode. He didn't get what was going on, just that there were a couple of gangsters on the ship and they suddenly disintegrated...

Another guy was once confused too. He had missed the beginning, and couldn't understand how or why there were two Riker's aboard the ship...

Recently one friend of mine mentioned enjoying a rerun he saw. I wasn't sure which one he was talking about, but when he said something about O'Brien's former captain it all fell into place.

Everyone seems to bring up their own "the one with the whales" moments in describing Star Trek episodes.

The few examples I cited were Next Generation, but it seems to work for them all.

Any funny/interesting ones you've heard over the years?

 

[MikeS]

that there were a couple of gangsters on the ship and they suddenly disintegrated...

Starship Mine?

there were two Riker's aboard the ship...

Second Chances?

O'Brien's former captain

The Wounded?

"the one with the whales"

ST:IV TVH?

 

[Melakon]

that there were a couple of gangsters on the ship and they suddenly disintegrated...

Starship Mine?

Or The Big Goodbye.

 

[MikeS]

^Gosh dang it! Of course, it was The Big Goodbye. Silly me.

 

[Takeru]

My sister watched occasional episodes of TNG, DS9 and Voyager, I heard her talk about:

"The one where Picard and Dr. Crusher have things on their necks"

"The Borg movie"

"That was like Ocean's 11"

"Troi had short hair and was on another ship"

"They had a race and someone tried to blow up the ship"

"Murdock was a spider!"

 

[DMG]

A friend who is not a ST fan once told me he'd seen some of a TOS episode on TV: "There was this paralysed man in a chair who couldn't talk, and he had this light that beeped for 'yes' or 'no'." (clearly Pike in The Menagerie).

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

My sister watched occasional episodes of TNG, DS9 and Voyager, I heard her talk about:

"The one where Picard and Dr. Crusher have things on their necks"

"The Borg movie"

"That was like Ocean's 11"

"Troi had short hair and was on another ship"

"They had a race and someone tried to blow up the ship"

"Murdock was a spider!"

It seems that sisters just don't grasp Star Trek. Mine was the same way: she'd pick up on the oddest things

Melakon is correct, by the way: The Big Goodbye !

 

[trekker670]

In high school (roughly 5 years ago, so well Star Trek was on the air) friends, knowing I was a fan, would mention they saw an episode in passing in much the same way you're describing. It kind of became a test as to how quickly I could figure out the name of the episode. I'm great at guessing the names of TNG episodes, since I grew up with all 176 episodes on VHS and it became routine to look through them to find the episode I wanted to watch, the other shows not so much.